Crystalline olefinic nitrile polymers and method for manufacturing same



United States Patent 3,493,648 CRYSTALLINE OLEFINIC NITRILE POLYMERS AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SAME Russell K. Griffith, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, assignor to The Standard Oil Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio No Drawing. Filed Oct. 3, 1966, Ser. No. 583,958 Int. Cl. B29c 3/00; B29b 1/12; C081? 3/76 US. Cl. 264-331 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Olefinic nitrile polymers, such as polyacrylonitrile, are subjected to shearing on a roll mill and the thus sheared polymer, which has 3-dimensional crystallinity, is molded into articles having excellent heat distortion and impact properties.

The present invention is concerned with olefinic nitrile polymers having three-dimensional crystallinity, to the method for preparing them and to novel articles prepared therefrom by molding.

Olefinic nitrile polymers such as acrylonitrile polymers have many excellent physical and chemical properties which are highly desirable in shaped articles; however, shaped articles from these polymers have had to be formed by other than conventional means heretofore, and the unreinforced articles prepared therefrom are generally quite brittle and possess relatively poor physical properties. The failure of many unplasticized non-thermoplastic acrylonitrile polymers to respond to conventional thermoforming techniques is decidedly disadvantageous and could very well be the reason why shaped article's based on acrylonitrile polymers, other than fibers which are ordinarily spun from solutions, are not widely available for use in commerce. One novel commercially practical method for the production of acrylonitrile polymer shaped articles is disclosed and claimed in my US. Patent No. 3,412,177 issued Nov. 19, 1968. Acrylonitrile polymers, and polyacrylonitrile in particular, have been available for many years. No known commercially feasible molding process for polyacrylonitrile articles of good physical properties was known prior to the process described in my aforementioned US. Patent No. 3,412,177. The present invention provides another commercially practical means for preparing molded polyacrylonitrile articles of excellent physical properties.

Most previous attempts to subject acrylonitrile to bulk polymerization reported in the literature have produced at least in part opaque, powdery, flocculate or agglomerated precipitates of polyacrylonitrile. The products so obtained are similar to those obtained by polymerization of acrylonitrile in a liquid medium, e.g., water. It is known that liquid acrylonitrile free of inhibitors and in the presence of a suitable polymerization initiator will polymerize quite rapidly. Because of this tendency toward rapid polymerization, the bulk polymerization of acrylonitrile is most difiicult to control and often results in a very rapid and sometimes explosive reaction. In this regard see Journal of Polymer Science, vol. 13, pages 329-353 (1954) and the textbook, Vinyl and Related Polymers, by C. A. Schildknecht, pages 264-265.

Previously known polyacrylonitrile prepared either in bulk or in a liquid medium was generally a white or p CC yellowish opaque powder. It is well known that polyacrylonitrile powder can be processed into fibers or films from a polar solvent by spinning or other wet processes. Attempts to mold polyacrylonitrile powder by fusion into void-free, three-dimensional bodies having good physical properties have not previously been successful, primarily because the high temperatures required for molding are in the same range as the temperature of decomposition of the polymer. (The textbook, Fibers, Plastics and Rubbers, by W. J. Roff, Butterworths, 1956, London, states at page 186 in reference to polyacrylonitrile that the polymer softens with charring and decomposition at 270 C.)

The production of solid, partially transparent bodies of polyacrylonitrile by a special bulk polymerization procedure has been described in British Patent No. 964,533. In this prior art process, a mixture of acrylonitrile monomer and acrylonitrile polymer containing certain polymerization initiators and promoters and optionally additives such as plasticizers, fillers, reinforcing agents and heat and radiation stabilizers are left to stand at a temperature not exceeding 60 C. until a clear polyacrylonitrile forms which is still in contact with unpolymerized acrylonitrile monomer. This prior art process requires long reaction periods of at least fourteen hours up to a month or more and obviously is not attractive from a commercial production standpoint, because in addition to the lengthy reaction period, some opaque polymer forms which must be removed from the clear polymer.

Polyacrylonitriles prepared by free-radical type polymerization normally show little evidence of crystallinity. The most prominent feature of the X-ray diagram is a fairly narrow ring. When filaments of polyacrylonitrile, especially those containing small amounts of solvent or water, are extended underthe best conditions, very high degrees of orientation of the chain molecules can result in the fibers. The two prominent equatorial X-ray reflections (one of which is the second order of the other) indicate a high degree of order in one lateral direction resulting from the drawing process. (See, Vinyl and Related Polymers, by C. A. Schildknecht, pages 276-276, and Journal of Polymer Science, vol. 55, pages 531-549, 1961.)

I have discovered a process for preparing acrylonitrile polymers which, unlike the prior art oriented fibers and films, are crystalline in all dimensions. These polymers areful for preparing molded articles having excellent physical properties, said process comprising shearing the acrylonitrile polymer under pressure at an elevated temperature.

The term shear as used herein is to be taken to mean simple shear as it is normally defined. (See, The Physics of Rubber Elasticity, L. R. G. Treloar, Oxford, 1958, page 88.) That is, the sliding of planes of the polymer parallel to a given plane by an amount proportional to their distance from the given plane. Shearing is a constant volume process in which two dimensions of a unit cube of material remain constant during the deformation. This is to be contrasted with the fiber drawing process in which all dimensions of a unit cube are changed. In shear the applied force acting in the x direction gives rise to a plane displacement, u at a distance, y, from the reference plane and leads to a gradient ma /6 perpendicular to the applied force and to the reference plane. An additional gradient (m /6 is formed perpendicular to the plane defined by equal values of u There are therefore two gradients acting at right angles to the plane undergoing a shear deformation. The technique of drawing, however, leads to a radially oriented gradient as well as one acting parallel to the applied force. The resulting displacements in drawing are not planar and do not lead to the same crystallinity on three dimensional order that one finds in sheared polyacrylonitrile.

For instance, according to my process, an acrylonitrile homopolymer in the form of a powder is passed through the rolls of a ditferential roll speed rubber mill in which the rolls are heated to about 150-500" F. to produce an opaque sheet of polymer. This sheet is broken up into a flutfy powder by cutting it into chunks which in turn are added to a high speed belnding device such as a Waring blender. The resulting fluffy powder can be compression molded at temperatures in the range of from 85 to 270 C. and pressures of at least 1000 p.s.i. into solid, clear articles such as dishes, cups, and the like which have excellent impact and heat distortion properites. Notched Izod impact strengths obtained on the molded products are in the range of from about 1 to 2 foot pounds per inch of notch, tensile strengths are in the range of 3 to 9 10- p.s.i. and flexural strengths range from about 7 to 13x10 p.s.i.

For the purposes of this invention the preferred olefinic nitriles are those having the structure wherein R is a hydrogen, a lower alkyl group or a halogen. More preferred are acrylonitrile and methacrylonitrile and the most highly preferred olefinic nitrile is acrylonitrile.

The acrylonitrile polymers useful in the present invention are those composed of a major amount of acryloni trile. Preferred are acrylonitrile homopolymers and copolymers prepared from monomer mixtures of at least 70% by weight of acrylonitrile and up to 30% by weight of at least one other monomer copolymerizable with acrylonitrile. More preferred are polymers prepared from a mixture of at least 90% by weight of acrylonitrile. The other monomer copolymerizable with acrylonitrile can be either a monoalkenyl or a polyalkenal monomer. The most preferred acrylonitrile polymer in the present invention is acrylonitrile homopolymer.

Useful monoalkenyl monomers include acrylic acid and the acrylate esters such as methyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, the propyl acrylates, the butyl acrylates, the amyl acrylates, the hexyl acrylates, cyclohexyl acrylate, phenyl acrylate, the octayl acrylates and the like; methacrylic acid and methacrylate esters such as methyl methacrylate, ethyl methacrylate, the propyl methacrylates, the butyl methacrylates, the amyl methacrylates, the hexyl methacrylates, cyclohexyl methacrylate, phenyl methacrylate, the decyl methacrylates, and the like; vinyl esters such as vinyl acetate, vinyl propionate, the vinyl butyrates, vinyl benzoate, isopropenyl acetate, and the like; vinyl ethers such as ethyl vinyl ether, octyl vinyl ether, phenyl vinyl ether, and the like; the vinyl aromatics such as styrene, alpha-methyl styrene, vinyl toluene, the vinyl xylenes, the vinyl naphthalenes, isopropenyl benzene and the like; maleic acid, fumaric acid, itaconic acid, maleic anhydride, and esters such as dimethyl maleate, dimethyl fumarate, diethyl maleate, diethyl itaconate, and the like; vinyl amides such as acrylamide, methacrylamide, N-methyl acrylamide, N-methylol acrylamide, vinyl benzamide, N- vinyl pyrrolidone and the like; the vinyl halides such as vinyle chloride, vinyl bromide, vinyl fluoride, vinylidene fluoride, dichloro difluoro ethylene, tetrafluoroethylene and the like; olefins such as ethylene, propylene, butene-l and the like; vinyl amines such as the vinyl pyridines, allyl amine, methallyl amines and others.

Useful polyaklenyl monomers includes those having at least two vinyl groups per molecule such as allyl acrylate, allyl methacrylate, diallyl maleate, diallyl fnmarate, ethylene glycol dimaleate, diallyl itaconate, methallyl acrylate, divinyl ether, diallyl ether, dimethallyl ether, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, 1,1,1-trimethoxypropane-dimethacrylate, -glyceryl triacrylate, sucrose hexaacrylate, diallyl phthalate, triallayl cyanurate, 2,2,5,5- tetramethyl-1,5-hexadiene, 1,5-hexadiene, l,6-heptadiene, 1,7-octadien'e, 1,8-nonadiene, divinyl biphenyl, divinyl naphthalene, divinyl benzene, trivinyl benzene, diallyl benzene, diisopropenyl benzene, allyl allyloxyacetate, ethylidene dimethacrylate, methylene dimethacrylate, diallyl melamine, diallyl isomelamine, triallyl melamine, triallyl aconitate, triallyl phosphate, tetrallyl silane, tetravinyl silane, diallyl divinyl silane, tetraallyl germane, tetravinyl tin, tetravinyl germane, triacryloyl perhydrotriazine, trimethacryloyl perhydrotriazine, divinyl spirobi, methylene-bis-acrylamide, ethylene diacrylamide, N-allyl acrylamide N,N-diallyl acrylamide, N,N-dimethallyl acrylamide, polyallyl ethers of polyhydric alcohols such as tetraallyl pentaerythritol, hexaallyl sucrose, hexaallyl inositol, hexaallyl sorbitol, hexavinyl sucrose, and the like, and others.

The acrylonitrile polymers useful in this invention may be prepared in any convenient manner such as by bulk, solution, emulsion or suspension polymerization techniques, all of which are well known to those skilled in the art. For the sake of convenience, however, it is preferred that the acrylonitrile polymers be prepared in an aqueous medium in the presence of a polymerization initiator. The polymerization reaction may be carried out by adding all of the monomer to the reaction mixture at once or in increments or in a continuous manner during the course of the reaction. A suitable emulsifier, surface active agent or dispersing agent is preferably used during the polymerization procedure in the preparation of the acrylonitrile polymers useful in this invention.

The acrylonitrile polymers embodied herein are resinous polymers usually having molecular weights of from about 10,000 to 1,000,000 or more and preferably above about 100,000.

The articles of the present invention are prepared by compression molding, injection molding, extrusion or similar techniques.

The articles produced by the instant process are useful in the production of dishes, cups, trays, tools, handles, knobs, electrical insulators, and the like. The products prepared by the instant process which are prepared without the presence of opaque fillers or pigments are transparent and are of particular interest as they have been found to be applicable in optics because of their high softening point, resistance to solvents and good scratch resistance.

In the following examples, which will further illustrate my invention, the amounts of the various ingredients are given in parts by weight unless otherwise indicated.

EXAMPLE I (A) An acrylonitrile copolymer was prepared from from the following recipe:

wherein W. is a number of from 1 to 40, R is an alkyl or alkaryl group and preferably a nonyl phenyl group and M is hydrogen, ammonia or an alkali metal, which composition is sold by the General Aniline and Film Corp.

Ingredients (a)(e) were charged into a reactor and the temperature was brought to 50 C. with stirring. A nitrogen atmosphere was maintained in the reaction vessel. Ingredients (f) and (g) were added and polymerization of these two monomers was substantially completed in about a 90-minute period. Then the ingredient (h) was added continuously over a 195 minute period while the reaction mixture was maintained at 50 C. and the resulting polymer dispersion was stirred and heated at 50 C. for an additional three hours. The final product was a suspension of polymer in water from which the polymer was readily isolated by filtration. The isolated polymer was washed on the filter with water and was subsequently dried in an oven. The dried polymer was found by X-ray analysis to have a crystallinity of 33.0%.

(B) A portion of the foregoing polymer Was sheared by being subjected to milling on a small differential roll rubber mill having the rolls at a temperature of 350-360 F. The powdery polymer formed a coarse sheet on the rubber mill. The sheet was found by X-ray analysis to have the following degrees of crystallinity:

Top, 73.3%; side, 56.9%; end, 40.2%.

This sheet was broken up into chunks which in turn were reduced to small fluify particles in a Waring Blendor which were leaf-like in nature and of about A" diameter on the average.

Seven grams of the foregoing sheared, fluffy polymer (B) were placed in a metal mold cavity having the dimensions 5" x /2". A plunger was inserted into the mold cavity onto the polymer and the entire mold assembly was placed in a press provided with a heating element. A pressure of 7,200 p.s.i. was placed on the polymer in the press and heating of the mold was commenced. After about 40 minutes a mold temperature of 160 C. was reached. Heating was stopped and the mold was then cooled to near room temperature. The molded bar of polymer was removed from the mold and it was found to be clear and transparent. The bar was found by A.S.T.M. tests to have a flexural strength of 123x10 p.s.i., a flexural modulus of 8.6 10- p.s.i., a tensile strength of 8.87 10- p.s.i., and a Izod notched impact strength of 1.07 foot pounds per inch of notch.

When unsheared original acrylonitrile polymer powder (A) was treated in the foregoing manner, a molded bar (which was not completely transparent was obtained which was found by A.S.T.M. tests to have a flexural strength of 4.68 10 p.s.i., a fiexural modulus of 5.65Xl'" p.s.i., a tensile strength of 1.67 p.s.i. and a notched Izod impact strength of 0.16 foot pound per inch of notch.

EXAMPLE II Molded bars were prepared as described in Example I using blends of polymer (A) and (B) of Example I with the following results:

Polymer blend, g. Flexural Tensile strength, strength, Izod im act, A B XlO- p.s.l. XlO- p.s.i. ft. lb. in.

EXAMPLE III (A) Polyacrylonitrile was prepared in an aqueous sus- The polymerization was carried out for six hours with continuous stirring at 60 C. in a nitrogen atmosphere. The resulting slurry was separated by centrifugation,

Flexural strength, Tensile strength, Izod impa t,

Polymer X10- p.s. X10" p.s.i. it. lb./in.

EXAMPLE IV A bulk polyacrylonitrile was prepared as follows: 1150 mls. (926 g. or 100 parts by weight) of acrylonitrile, 13.8 g. (1.49 parts by weight) of t-dodecyl mercaptan and 2.0 g. (0.216 part by weight) of azoisobutyronitrile were stirred under nitrogen in a reactor which was connected to a filter via a pump in such a way that the precipitated polymer was removed as it formed in the monomer. The reactor was heated in a water bath at 60 C. A total of 52 g. of polyacrylonitrile was prepared in 24 minutes. The polymer was a fine white polymer when dried.

A repeat of steps (A) and (B) of Example I with the foregoing polymer gave results similar to those described in Example I.

EXAMPLE V A polymer was prepared using the procedure of Exam- -ple III from the following recipe:

Parts Acrylonitrile 100 Water 200 t-Butyl pivalate 0.1 t-Dodecyl mercaptan 0.8 Ethyl acrylate 5.0 Polyvinyl pyrrolidone 0.5

The resulting polymer was treated as in Example IV With similar results.

EXAMPLE VI A polymer was prepared using the procedure of Example III from the following recipe:

Parts Acrylonitrile 100 Water 200 t-Butyl pivalate 0.1 t-Dodecyl mercaptan 1.0

Octyl vinyl ether 10.0 Polyvinyl pyrrolidone 0.5

The resulting polymer was treated as in Example IV with similar results.

I claim:

1. The method for preparing a molded article of improved three-dimensional crystallinity from an unplasticized, sheared, non-thermospastic resinous olefinic nitrile polymer selected from the group consisting of acrylonitrile homopolymers and copolymers prepared from a monomer mixture of at least 70% by weight of acrylonitrile and up to 30% by weight of at least one other monomer copolymerizable with acrylonitrile comprising:

(A) shearing the unplasticized, non-thermoplastic resinous olefinic nitrile polymer and (B) molding the sheared polymer from A at a temperature in the range of from about to 270 C. and a pressure of at least 1000 p.s.i.

7 8 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the olefinic nitrile 2,710,846 6/1955 Dietrich 264331 X polymer is an acrylonitrile homopolyrner. 3,388,202 6/ 1968 Opferkuch 264-331 X 3. The method of claim 2 wherein the temperature is in the range of from about 160 to 185 C. FOREIGN PATENTS 4. The method of claim 3 wherein the pressure is about 5 824,165 11/1959 Great Britain.

72 00 p S 1 ROBERT F. WHITE, Primary Examiner I. R. THURLOW, Assistant Examiner References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,309,441 3/1967 Burczyk 264140 X 1 .R- 3,345,350 10/1967 Shavit 26088.7 X 260-88.7; 264-140, 176, 329, 349 

